Galatians Resources

Galatians Resources

Traditionally Galatians has been read as Paul's defense of justification by faith over against Jewish legalism. This reading saw the debate generally running something like this: (1) "The Circumcision Party" taught that gentiles had to earn their salvation through doing good deeds. (2) Paul countered that argument by establishing that no one can be justified, and thereby saved through doing good works, rather that the only way of being justified was through faith in Christ.

Over the last couple of decades the "New Perspective" on Paul has (at best) brought out some new emphases in Paul, and sometimes (at worst) undermined the foundational insight of the traditional understanding of Paul in Galatians. This "new" reading of Paul has emphasized that the primary problem with the "circumcision party" was a social one- namely that they were insisting that the Galatians become like Jews in their outward conformity to the Old Testament Law. Their problem was primarily that they were promoting a sort of racism or nationalism. This is all terribly over-simplified simply to avoid writing an entire book, and one will find "New Perspective" authors who vary greatly on how much the traditional reading is obscured or simply modified by some of their insights. The primary problem I have with some aspects of this "new perspective" is the way in which some of its proponents drive a fairly stiff wedge between Jewish nationalism and Jewish legalism. For these authors it becomes an almost exclusively social issue. In the end I don't believe that such a wedge is necessary or even possible. At the heart of Jewish nationalism (which is absolutely part of what Paul is dealing with in Galatians) is religious pride, in other words, legalism. For the Circumcision party, their acceptance before God was based on something besides the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

All this being said, if we can maintain the essential core of the traditional readingsof Galatians, while allowing the New Perspective to add some helpful insights into some of the contextual issues that gave rise to Paul's vigorous defense of justification by faith in Christ, then I think there is much to be gained by reading certain New Perspective authors.

I've marked each resource with a designation: NP= New Perspective approach, TR= Traditional Reading, BI= Blended Insights. Items marked with a star* are less technical in nature and could be helpful in devotional settings.

I strongly recommend a study produced by Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 2005 on Galatians. It can be purchased HERE.

Still one of the greatest pieces of Christian literature produced is Luther's classic commentary on Galatians. It has been a favorite of many great Christian preachers and theologians and remains one of the most powerful commentaries ever written on any biblical letter. It has been published in numerous editions, but I have found the edition published by Kregel to be compact and readable.

Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (translated by Erasmus Middleton). Kregel, 1979.

Commentaries:

F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC. Eerdmans, 1982. (TR)

Richard Hays, Galatians. (In the New Interpreter's Bible, Volume XI, pp. 183-348) (BI)

Richard Longenecker, Galatian. Word Biblical Commentary, 1990. (BI)

J. Louis Martyn, Galatians. Anchor Bible, 1997. (BI)

Philip Graham Ryken, Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary. P & R Publishing, 2005 (TR)

*John Stott, The Message of Galatians. IVP, 1968 (TR)

John Stott, Galatians: Experiencing the Grace of Christ. IVP, 1998 (TR)

*Tom Wright, Galatians for Everyone. WJK, (NP)

Books:

Mark Seifrid, Christ Our Righteousness: Paul's Theology of Justification. IVP, 2000 (BI)
Trevor Burke, Adopted into God's Family. IVP, 2006 (BI)

Preaching I have found particularly helpful on Galatians:
(all of them can be found HERE.)

John Piper: 1983
Tim Keller: 2005
Mark Driscoll: 2002
Phil Ryken: 2006